BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A development team with ties to Jared Kushner released plans on Wednesday to transform the Jehovah’s Witness Watchtower complex into an office and retail space hub in DUMBO.
Columbia Heights Associates — a venture controlled by Kushner Companies, CIM Group and LIVWRK Holdings — will transform five buildings at 25-30 Columbia Heights into a 742,000-square-foot campus with the capacity to host about 5,000 workers, developers announced Wednesday.
The new development — renamed Panorama for its cityscape views — will feature newly renovated lobbies, public terraces and about 35,000 square feet of retail space that will be accessible to the public, according to developers.
And inhabitants of the buildings’ 635,000 square feet of office space will have access to private terraces, the sky bridge and a private garage, developers said.
Kushner Companies and investment partners bought the Watchtower complex from the Jehovah’s Witnesses for $340 million in 2016, according to city records.
And while Jared Kushner stepped down as Kushner CEO in January, he is still the beneficiary of 25-30 Columbia Heights and the buildings tenants will indirectly be paying rent to a White House senior advisor, according to a Fast Company report.
This means the businesses that inhabit Panorama will have a financial relationship with the man who leads the White House’s Office of American Innovation and could possibly privatize certain government tasks, as the Washington Post first reported in April.
But a White House spokesperson told Fast Company that Kushner, who is currently under investigation by the FBI, would comply with all federal ethic rules.
Kushner also garnered criticism for his landlord practices in February when video from one of his Williamsburg buildings hit the news — the video showed a rat crawling into a baby’s crib.
Image via Columbia Heights Associates/Volley Studio
“But a White House spokesperson told Fast Company that Kushner, who is currently under investigation by the FBI, would comply with all federal ethic rules.”
Translation: Mammon will be forthcoming to the proper recipients.